Square tubes with dimes are turning green.

Perhaps someone can explain this and what I should do. I am not sure if this is bad or not.

About 8-10 years ago, I put a bunch of coins into square tube holders. They were made by Colella Productions which I think was Coin Tubes of Nevada (since out of business I believe). Last night, I was organizing and when I opened the box with about 100 rolls of dimes (mercury and roos), the tubes are turning green. The green only goes up to the height of dimes in the tubes, so I'm guessing it is some reaction between the dime and the tube. Out of 100 rolls, however, a couple were not turning. The ones that did not turn contain un-circulated dimes. All of the tubes with circulated dimes have developed a green tint. Other tubes with old quarters, halves, and dollars are just fine and do not have a green tint.

The dimes themselves in the green tubes seem to be fine. Also, the green has developed in the material of the tube. That is, I opened the tube and tried cleaning the inside and nothing comes off the inside wall.

The pictures below. The pic with three rolls shows the green tint climbing to the height of the dimes. The pic with two rolls shows one that is turning and one with un-circulated dimes that did not turn. Last is a pic of the bottom with the company.

I am trying to decide whether to replace (1) all the dime tubes, (2) just the dime tubes turning green, or (3) all the tubes, even the ones with quarters, halves, and dollars.

 

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Take my opinion with a grain of salt because I am not a plastic expert. They might be turning that color because of cheap/inferior chemicals used in it. I have square coin tubes passed down to me from my grandpa that are 20+ years old and they are not that color. I say just buy new ones to be on the safe side.

 

Is there any odor associated with the plastic tubes? The fact that there is some sort of reactive process going on here would prompt me to swap the coins out for another means of storage. Green usually doesn't bode well for coins, even if it is only on the storage tube.

 

A no-brainer. Buy new tubes. But you might solicit opinions on what brand, here, first. Some new tubes are flimsy and the top comes off unexpectedly because the threaded part is too short. Others are guaranteed to crack if you drop them - very brittle, inferior plastic.

 

They might be PVC based tubes. The chemical reaction to the coins will produce an unsightly green coating on everything it touches. Best to replace the tubes and possibly dip the dimes in acetone to remove as much of the PVC as possible.

 

This thread reminds me of these:



The coins are NOT being harmed by this "lime greening" of the slab insert and not ALL slabs of this particular generation turn this "Lime Green" color.

Why it does this, is totally unknown. Some say heat but since there is not indication of heat being applied to the slab's, I disagree.
Some say exposure to sunlight but I've placed slabs in the sun on a hot day and nothing happens.

I think it would take some serious chemical analysis to determine exactly what is occuring. The same holds true with the OP's dime tubes.

 

Its NOT related to PVC.

 

OP, are you located near any mines, smelters, chemical factories, or coal-burning power plants? Do cars in your county have to be inspected for emissions? Do you have a lot of smog? That's all the environmental factors I can think of.

 

This sounds like the beginning to a "as seen on tv" ad. This isn't Billy Mays is it? :smile

 

Since he's dead, that would be difficult. :smile

 

I didn't know the guy that sells the rubber spray in the can or slap chop at the time of that post do I had to go with the legend himself.

 

If you ignore environmental factors, you're unlikely to answer the question in a definitive sense. Ask the folks in East Helena, Montana:

"...Early results [CERCLA and EPA] of air quality and soil metals analysis confirmed the long-held suspicion that arsenic, lead, cadmium and other contaminants were accumulating in the soil and water, and were also present at high concentrations in street and household dust throughout the community of East Helena."

 

A Jackie Chan movie reference?

 

"Slap Chop" is written up in excruciating detail in Wikipedia...

 

That happened completely to a tube filled with 1990s eagles I have. The tube is now solid yellow. I thought they came yellow but I couldn't find any eagle tubes that came yellow online so I assumed they reacted. The coins aren't affected as far as I can see.

 

Sine the OP says (1) that the metal of the coins aren't affected, and (2) that the color remains 'within' the plastic, I would eliminate any PVC action, because the plasticizers of PVC are close to colorless until they react with copper or silver. Assuming the tubes are polyethylene products ( there is no recycle symbol on the bottom to indicate) my suspicion is it is from Chromium compound used in the polymerization process as a catalyst. Perhaps a contaminant slowly converted some to chrome oxide which is a similar green color.

 

I smelled. No odor detected from the tubes.

 

No mines, smelters, factories, etc. Also no smog or emissions tests. They have been stored in a nice place.

 

This is interesting. That green powder is pretty close to the greenish/yellow color of the tubes.

 

By far the most likely explanation. I suspect it was a bad batch of polyethylene probably of Chinese origin. Another theory, tt could also be a verdigris film which developed and leached into the plastic.

How have the tubes been stored?